They're Frosted with Love, Damn it!
by january sunshine
Summary: Valentines Fic for all! Mello tries to make L the best Valentine a 10 year old can give.


Okay... because the big V-Day was only two days away when I started this, and I haven't posted a Death Note fic in a while, I've decided to grace you all with this lovely fic of my... sick and twisted mind.

So, there's no actual Yaoi or anything, but it's Wammy Cuteness! It made _me_ happy...

Love!

**They're Frosted with Love, Damn it!**

**by Darkness Princess**

There was something about Japan which had a ten-year-old very unhappy. He had been doing cultural research in the second week of February when he realized a startling bit of information about Valentine's Day and the tradition of gifts. Guys gave presents to the girls they liked. _Liked_, as in crushes, romance, fancies... Mello wanted to give L a valentine but wasn't sure if the older one would interpret it in an American sort of meaning or the Japanese one.

He didn't care when he stormed into the kitchen, screaming at a few three-year-olds about not sneaking into the cookie jar. Once they scampered off crying, he made his way to the counter and pulled it open, withdrawing a recipe book.

This was horrible. He wanted to buy chocolates, but before he tried getting to that part of his explanation of doing something for L, Near told him that he had saved quite a few chocolate bars into a compiling of sweets for the famous detective.

One of the older girls told him she ordered flowers for L, another got a book of sudoku--_sudoku?_ for _Valentines?_--and Mello knew there was one thing he could do without getting in trouble, being somewhat short on spending cash, and a proof of his independence.

He couldn't believe he was doing this on his own!

Matt had come down with some odd sort of illness, strep or something like that, and so he was given juice and video games to keep him busy. With his right-hand man out of the picture, he knew he wouldn't have patience to work with anyone else on the project. It was just how he was--so he planned on doing it alone.

The flour was difficult to manage, and after only two minutes of getting into the stuff, his black shirt now seemed white with black marks upon the fabric. His jeans weren't as stained, but the feeling of the flour slickening the pads of his feet bothered him. He kept slipping on the tile floor. Either way, he decided he wasn't going to let it bother him.

Eggs, water, the flat tray, sugar--yes, _yes,_ oh glorious sugar!--vanilla extract, spatula, a bowl, butter, milk, salt--_salt? _Wait a minute, people put salt... in... Whoa! Oh, half teaspoon...

He moved about diligently, trying to stick to the instructions as much as possible. Most of the children were in their rooms, writing up paper valentines, folding paper dolls, decorating the front room for the party tomorrow, or sleeping. Mello was sure he'd be on his own for the rest of the afternoon, since he doubted Near would roam into the kitchen--the boy was skinny, he didn't like much food (not even chocolate, it was _blasphemy_!)--so naturally, it surprised the blond when the pale child clad in pajamas toddled his way into the mess.

"Mello, what are you doing?"

He was sitting next to the oven, that was what he was doing. It was preheating, and a few lumps of dough somewhat resembling hearts and... circles stuck on sticks?--oh, magnifying glasses--rested on a cookie tray on the counter. Near blinked, looking down at the flour-covered mess and the small boy in the midst of it all.

The blond didn't look up, determined not to. That wasn't possible. Near was supposed to be off doing a puzzle or something, not roaming--and definitely _not_ stealing his idea, _again_. After a few seconds, he stood up and took the cookies, sticking them into the oven. His hand brushed the side of the thing and he bit back a loud yelp, withdrawing his hand the moment the cookie tray rested on the second metal tray inside. Once he shut the oven, assured the cookies were going to be safely cooked, he began hopping up and down and freaking out about losing his fingers to the oven.

Near watched Mello panic for merely a second or two before turning on the sink. "Stick your hand under here," he said calmly. Mello did as ordered, and soon screamed once he felt the heat of the water pulsating over his hand.

"What the hell? That'll burn me even more!" he cried out, trying to withdraw his hand, but Near had latched a tiny hand onto his wrist. He whimpered for a moment, looking towards the fridge, wanting ice, but after about a minute, Near turned off the faucet. Mello shoved him to the ground.

"It takes out the effects of the burn on your skin," Near explained softly. "So you won't have any long-lasting scars on your hand."

Mello didn't care about scars on his hand. He had bruises and scraped knees and cuts from falls and another scar wouldn't bother him. That hurt, and now Near knew his surprise. He ignored the boy as he found the first-aid kit and bandaged his hand sloppily, then had Near correct his handiwork for him out of spite--not even, he just couldn't fix the bandages with one hand and his teeth--and, strangely, not only was Near precise and even, but he was very gentle with his hand. Roger often pushed against the wounds a tad too much and Mello always let out a string of expletives not meant for ten-year-olds to know. When Near finished, he looked up, still silent.

"Near..."

He blinked. "Who are you baking cookies for?"

"No one. Get out now!"

The small one didn't even move. "The kitchen belongs to the orphanage," he reminded, "not--"

"Don't you even _dare_ lecture me! Or I'll shove _you_ into the oven!" Mello threatened, waving his uninjured fist. When he knew the younger one wouldn't leave, silently sitting there as he pulled parts of his transformer from his pajamas's pockets--why would pajamas need pockets, anyway?--he crawled to the oven and peered inside. "If you're going to stay, shut up."

Silence fell upon the kitchen once more.

And an hour later, chaos erupted. Mello learned the usage of oven mitts and found quite a bit of frosting. And sprinkles--all colors of the rainbow, plus some, but he doubted L would mind that they weren't all just red. He figured he was ready, noticing that Near had grown bored of him within the last half hour and wandered away, and now had everything on hand. With the butter knife in hand, he began to clump frosting onto each cookie, unsure how to really do this.

Mello had no practice. He didn't make sandwiches, didn't decorate cakes, and most certainly, he had never put frosting on a sugar cookie. It proved to be difficult trying to put them in specific shapes, trying not to make a huge mess of the designs, but that was destroyed when half the cookies came out as unknown shapes and attached hearts, and the frosting kept getting onto his fingers.

Near came back into the kitchen when he finished and noticed a mess of frosting on Mello's fingers, the counter, and the boy's shirt, some parts attached with sprinkles, some not--most of the sprinkles landed on the floor--and the blond didn't seem to mind. The majority of the frosting and sprinkles had landed on the sweets sitting on a plate in front of him.

"Mello... you have to freeze the frosting on each cookie first before clumping them together, or they get stuck."

"Damn it!" Mello swore, tugging a frosting-coated hand from his face. He figured something was up. But the cookies tasted okay, thankfully--he liked them, extra-sweet and probably enough to fit L's sugar-tooth. He couldn't help but frown slightly, looking at the small pile. Clumped... maybe L would like the large mess of cookies?

Near merely came closer, leaning on the counter as he stood on his toes. "How come you put so much frosting on them? They only need a small coating to be sweet..."

"Shut up!" Mello screamed, after inspecting the two empty tubs of frosting and the amount he had piled on each cookie. He came up with an excuse rather quickly, though, face tinged pink at the sudden embarassment of his mistake. "They're frosted with love, damn it!"

"Oh..."

Near left before he bothered Mello into throwing the butter knife he now licked clean.

"The sugar cookies are great, Mello!" L said with a smile, letting the small boy hug him tightly.

Mello couldn't help but grin. The Valentine's party didn't seem as bad as he had first thought; though the amount of pink hearts were a tad on the excessive side, he liked the fact that L showed up unexpectedly, a small pink heart drawn on his cheek. He wasn't even sure when the design had appeared, but in the feeling of the mood, he left it there. Mello thought it was awesome, and looked up happily at L as he tugged a cookie from the frosting.

"Coated on both sides, that's interesting." L held a cookie up, dark eyes inspecting it as the child looked at him with pure interest. He took a bite out of his fourth one and smiled again.

**;..mn..;**

Near was happy. At least Mello's surprise was a hit--it was how Mello liked it; he liked when his things grabbed attention. The presents were just part of the huge blast, it seemed, since someone was playing music, and there was an odd game going on in the back. One of the boys tugged L from Mello's grasp, and he wrapped up the cookies, leaving them with the rest of his Valentines as he went to find out about this new game.

He figured he could probably do so as well, and he made his way from the table he stood in front of, only to find himself cornered. Between the table and a chair and the wall, trapped, Mello standing in front of him with an odd look on his face. Near couldn't decipher the meaning, except he could tell that Mello was trying to tell him something.

Odd. Mello and speechless didn't seem to connect.

But soon, an oddly-wrapped package was shoved in his hands and the blond ran off to join L and the strange game by the window.

Near glanced down and immediately unwrapped the present, tugging off the white paper to find a napkin folded over something, a sheet of notebook paper on the inside. White, red, and pink hearts decorated the paper, and Near had to smile.

_**"For Near. thanks. happy Valentines. **_   
_**Hope you like sugar, I saved this for you."**_

Wrapped inside the napkin was one sugar cookie, vanilla coating somewhat scraped off in parts to make a calm, even surface, cool to the touch as if kept refrigerated to hold the frosting. On the top... the bottom was a mess of more frosting and sprinkles. Coated with love, and adjusted to perfection for revenge?

Who knew? Near just took a bite and decided that Mello really did make a good cookie.

**;owari;**

**Happy Valentines, Everyone!**

Really, I figured you all needed a present. I thank my friend Leslie, who gave me the idea of "cookies" when my mom thought "pillowcases" was a three-syllable word and the Teddy Grahams weren't helping as muses.

And since it's Valentine's Day, everyone needs a cute fic! Hope it makes the coupled smile and the singles feel a little less alone.

**:Darkness Princess.**


End file.
